Episode 700 (30th August 1967)
Plot The residents set off on their respective day trips. Lucille hears that the Hewitts are coming over for a visit. Elsie says they can come to the wedding. Annie, Lucille, Minnie, Ena, Val, Elsie, Hilda, Irma and Emily go to Tatton Park. Dennis steers a horse-drawn barge full of Jack, Albert, Steve, Stan, David, Len and Gregg through the canal. The women admire the gardens at Tatton Park but Elsie is pestered by coach driver Frank Hoyle and, to get rid of him, throws the coach keys into an ornamental fountain. Minnie is courted by Herbert Whittle, an elderly guide at the stately home. She thinks he's "Lord Tatton Park". The men get stuck in the mud of the canal. Albert is seasick. Their horse, Horace, keeps refusing to move but Dennis manages to persuade him. They are horrified when a crate of beer falls into the water. The woman eat at a cafe where Frank is forced to eat at the same table as Ena and Minnie. Both parties are shocked when the barge ends up next to the cafe. Stan and Jack are forced to look round the house by Annie and Hilda. They are unimpressed and Stan receives a lecture from Irma for neglecting his wife. Val tells Steve not to mess Elsie about - if he doesn't intend to love Elsie forever he shouldn't marry her. He assures her he does. Len finds a new stock of beer and the men decide to resume their barge trip. Steve tells Elsie he's busy all weekend so won't see her until the wedding. Elsie and Irma wave the menfolk off as they continue on their canal trip. Cast Regular cast *Annie Walker - Doris Speed *Jack Walker - Arthur Leslie *Elsie Tanner - Patricia Phoenix *Ena Sharples - Violet Carson *Len Fairclough - Peter Adamson *Dennis Tanner - Philip Lowrie *Steve Tanner - Paul Maxwell *Miss Nugent - Eileen Derbyshire *Lucille Hewitt - Jennifer Moss *Valerie Barlow - Anne Reid *Irma Barlow - Sandra Gough *David Barlow - Alan Rothwell *Stan Ogden - Bernard Youens *Hilda Ogden - Jean Alexander *Minnie Caldwell - Margot Bryant *Albert Tatlock - Jack Howarth Guest cast *Herbert Whittle - Arnold Ridley *Frank Hoyle - Roger Rowland *Gregg Flint - Bill Nagy *Horace - Fred Places *Tatton Park - House, including the music room, library, dining room and gardens. Japanese garden *Cheshire country lane *Canal, including canalside tea shop and lock Notes *This was the first episode of Coronation Street to be made totally on location with no indoor studio scenes. Outside broadcast videotaping took place at Tatton Park (whose grounds were later used by Granada for scenes in Brideshead Revisited) and on a canal, possibly the Shropshire Union Canal. *Producer Jack Rosenthal devised this episode as a treat for the cast. In Daran Little's 1995 book The Coronation Street Story he said, "I went to see Cecil Bernstein of [[Granada] television] and said, 'For years and years, these people have been coming into the studio every Monday and working until Friday night. I think it’s a treadmill and we need to break it.'" He proposed filming an entire episode in one week, all on location and with the cast put up in a plush hotel. To his surprise, Bernstein agreed, even though this one episode cost the same as two normal episodes. The cast were not appreciative of Rosenthal’s efforts on their behalf as they perceived Rosenthal's "treadmill" to be a cherished routine. Also, they did not enjoy a week of constant location work: "When they got out into the country they hated it. One of them hated walking on grass because there were worms in it, another one couldn’t act in the open air because of the butterflies, and they drove me crazy for the whole week. I went mad and regretted it." *The canal narrowboat featured in the episode, Iona, was built in 1935 and is still available for hire from the Godalming Packetboat Company on the River Wey in Surrey. *''TV Times: No synopsis appeared in the magazine between Episode 678 (14th June 1967) and Episode 701 (4th September 1967) *Viewing Figures: First UK broadcast - 7,600,000 homes (2nd place). *This episode was repeated on BBC4 on Sunday 18th July 2004 at 7.05pm as part of a retrospective season of the work of Jack Rosenthal following the death of the writer two months earlier. It is one of three episodes of ''Coronation Street to be shown on the BBC, the others being Episode 95 (8th November 1961) and Episode 500 (27th September 1965). *This episode was included in the Network DVD collection Coronation Street: The Best of 1960-1969, released on 31st July 2006. Category:1967 episodes Category:Episodes shot totally on location Category:Special repeats Episode 0700